Press Information Bureau

The Press Information Bureau, commonly abbreviated as PIB,[1] is a nodal agency of the Government of India. Based in National Media Centre, New Delhi,[2] Press Information Bureau disseminates information to the print, electronic and web media on government plans, policies, programme initiatives and achievements.

Press Information Bureau
पत्र सूचना कार्यालय
Agency overview
Formed1919
HeadquartersNational Media Centre, New Delhi
Minister responsible
Websitepib.nic.in

The current director general (28th) of PIB is Indian Information Service officer KS Dhatwalia.[3]

History

The Press Information Bureau was established in June 1919 as a small cell under Home Ministry under the British government. Its main task was to prepare a report on India to be placed before the British Parliament. It was then located in Shimla.

The first head of the publicity cell was Dr. L.F. Rushbrook Williams of Allahabad University who was designated as Officer on Special Duty. Prof. Williams had earlier worked with Sir Stanley Reed on the Central Publicity Board.

Towards the end of 1920, the cell became the Central Bureau of Information and the designation of the Officer on Special Duty was changed to Director. Prof Rushbrook Williams, who was appointed as Director of the Central Bureau of Information, described the working of the Bureau in his evidence before the Press Laws Committee of 1921. In reply to a question, he said: “This department, which for the sake of convenience is a sub-section of the Home Department, is really a link between the Government and the Press. The most important part of the duties of myself and my colleagues is to examine the current Press, both English and vernacular, with the objective of finding out topics in which the public is interested and on which it requires information, and of finding out matters in connection with which the action of the Government is criticized. Our duty is then to extract the more important of these statements and to bring them to the notice of the Departments concerned with the request that more information about a given subject should be published because the public is interested; or that particulars should be given about this matter because the public is in doubt; or that explanations should be furnished about that matter because the public is dissatisfied.”

On June 1, 1923, the Central Bureau of Information was put on a permanent footing as the Bureau of Public Information.

The Director of Information in the India Office in London, A.H. Joyce visited India in 1935 and 1936 to settle problems of the Indian Press and to reorganize the Bureau of Public Information. Joyce laid down detailed procedure for the issue of official releases, answering queries of journalists and the holding of press conferences.

In 1941, J. Natrajan became the first Indian to be head the Bureau as Principal Information Officer. The organization’s name was changed to the Press Information Bureau in 1946.

The Bureau has been reconstituted many times since independence of India in 1947.

Structure and Functioning of Press Information Bureau

Administratively, the Press Information Bureau is one of the media units working under the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting, Government of India. It is the nodal agency for public communication and media relations for the entire Union Government of India (though some organizations have their own outfits to look after their specialized media and publicity functions, e.g. Ministry of External Affairs and the armed forces).

With headquarters in New Delhi, it now has a nation-wide network of 8 regional offices and 34 branch offices.[4] Over 60 information officers are presently in position in the Bureau. The Bureau has Information Officers attached to different Ministries, constitutional bodies and autonomous organizations of the Government of India. They are responsible for information dissemination and unpaid publicity for those organizations.

The Bureau issues press releases, features, photographs, infographics and videos for giving information to electronic, print and web media on the following matters:

  • Government Planning
  • Government Policies
  • Programme Initiatives
  • Achievements of the Government

The Bureau has a Press Facilitation unit for press accreditation and facilitation during press conferences and events that are open for the media. At present, about 2500 editors, correspondents, camerapersons and technicians from print, radio, television and web media are accredited.

Its website contains archives of press releases issued by it since 1947. It has also launched the mobile version of its website[5] and a mobile app.

In November 2019, the PIB set up a fact-checking unit to check government related news.[6][7]

See also

References
  1. "PIB Home Page". PIB official Portal.
  2. "Sonia, PM to launch Rs 60 cr media centre". The Hindustan Times. 24 August 2013. Archived from the original on 24 August 2013. Retrieved 14 September 2013.
  3. "KS Dhatwalia named new PIB dg". India Today.
  4. "About PIB". PIB Mumbai official Portal.
  5. "PIB launches mobile version of its website". The Economic Times. PTI. 31 August 2012. Archived from the original on 22 September 2013.
  6. "Press Information Bureau sets up unit to combat fake news related to government". The Hindu. PTI. 29 November 2019. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 30 November 2019.CS1 maint: others (link)
  7. "PIB establishes checking unit to combat fake news against government on social media". The Economic Times. 28 November 2019. Retrieved 30 November 2019.



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